That's very true. Usually keeping common sense stuff in mind like "I'm having to touch the database multiple times" or "I'm maintaining 2 arrays for this opera

That's very true. Usually keeping common sense stuff in mind like "I'm having to touch the database multiple times" or "I'm maintaining 2 arrays for this operation instead of one" and realizing that those are red flags, gets you there in almost every case. I agree that those things probably do expand your understanding and allow you to consider problems in different ways (which may help you solve certain types of problems more easily). I also agree with your main point: there are very few people in the world who are likely to be able to (accurately) describe themselves as software developers with <1 year of experience/learning.